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Friday, May 27, 2011

Karam Gavvalu

Karam gavvalu literally means savory shells in Telugu.

Today's special is 'karam gavvalu', a traditional, delicious snack from Andhra. Gavvalu literally means shells in Telugu and this item is called so because of the shape. There are both savory and sweet versions of it and today's post is about the savory one. 
The particular shape is attained using a special gadget known as gavvala peeta or gavvala chekka. It is a wooden board with ridges that comes in different sizes. In the absence of it, one can use the backside of a long fork or a grater or even a new comb.

Gavvala peeta ~ A wooden board with ridges on it.

Ingredients: (Makes about 90 shells)
2 cups all purpose flour / maida
2 - 3 Tbsp melted ghee / oil
Salt & chili powder to taste
Water to form dough
Oil to fry


Preparation:
Combine the flour, salt, chili powder and ghee in a mixing bowl. Add water to it little by little and form firm dough. Let it rest for about 30 minutes or so.

Shaping the dough into shells:
Pinch out a small marble sized portion from the dough and roll between your palms into a ball. Place the ball on the ridges of the gavvala peeta and press the dough ball with your thumb. Slide it along the ridges (towards the right side for a right handed person) without removing your thumb from the dough. The ball would curve into a shell, half moon shaped one. Keep it aside.
Repeat the steps with the remaining dough and shape into shells. Keep them covered.

Frying:
Heat about 2 cups of oil in a kadai / small wok. When the oil is hot enough to fry, gently drop the dough shells into it. Keep flipping and fry them in batches on low flame, until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
Cool and store them in airtight container.


Check this video to get a better idea about forming shells.

Check out the Blogging Marathoners doing BM#5 along with me. 
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree , Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Harini, Me , PJ and Vaishali
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli


Comments

25 comments:

KrithisKitchen said...

Yours is so perfectly done.. grandma uses back of a leaf to get the beautiful shape..
http://krithiskitchen.blogspot.com
Event: Serve It-Chilled

Simplyfood said...

Very pretty little savory cookies .

harini-jaya said...

Good one! Theepi gavvalu telusu though I never made them. We normally make sankarpali in our family (same dough in different shape).
Btw, there seems to be a problem in parts of google applications. Some gadgets in blogger are also not working :(

vaishali sabnani said...

AW....These are such cute little bites..v v attractive love the texture and its appearance...lovely presentation....simply awsum!!

Gayathri Kumar said...

We call it seeppu seedai. Karam gavvalu looks great..

Pavani said...

Gavvalu entha cutega vunnayi.. Good job Suma.. Gavvalu thini at least 10 years avuthondhi.. They look perfect. Nice clicks.

Suma Gandlur said...

Gayathri, seedai are different from gavvalu as far as I know. Are they not made with rice flour?

Hari Chandana P said...

Wowww... chala bagunnayi suma mee karam gavvalu.. memu masala gavvalu kooda chesthamu appudappudu.. Aa butta ayithe super ga vundi.. :)
Indian Cuisine

Divya said...

karam Gavvalu looks superb..nice recipe....pics r cool...

Aruna Manikandan said...

wow...
looks perfect dear...
nice clicks :)

Aarthi said...

you did the perfect ones...

Reva said...

I have heard about this snack but never come across the recipe/how to make:) Thanks for sharing ... that is a very nice presentation with shells:)
Reva

Kaveri Venkatesh said...

very cute looking gavvulu...I always used to wonder how you guys got the shape of shell. Understood now...will try these cuties soon

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

adpoly recipe..love d gorgeous clicks..
you are welcome to my space dear..:)

Tasty Appetite
Event: Letz Relishh Ice Creams

Priya Suresh said...

Crispy beauties looks truly very addictive, we do similar too but with rice flour...Feel like munching some..

Unknown said...

This is new for me. Mom always made sweet gavvalu but kharam sounds superb :)

AJ said...

Yumm!! I remember making these for festivals back in my school days!!

Usha said...

I remember making these growing up. It was usually the sweet gavvalu and it was a fun activity for us.

Preethy said...

Hello.. Nice clicks... I tried these karam gavvau, they tasted very well and got the color also as shown in pictures, but i did not get that crispness .. Can you share any tips to get crispy karam gavvalu. Thank you, hoping to see your response...

Suma Gandlur said...

Preethy, usually they are fried on low flame to get the crispiness. If done on high flame, they brown quickly and taste like undercooked.
If you think that is not the problem, then you may try adding 1 or 2 Tbsp hot oil while preparing the dough.
Hope these tips help and thanks for trying.

satya said...

Karam gavvalu is new to me... tried ur recipe.. it tasted good

siva Krishna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Where to get gavvalu chekka?

Suma Gandlur said...

Unknown, I got it from India.

Anonymous said...

I got mine on Amazon. Try searching for gnocchi board